Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-02-13
TYPES AT THE CAPITAL.
Lament of an Old Clerk Over His
Misspent Life.
From The Ne,o York Star,

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10.-The old public
functl0nary or government clerk is per-
haps the most distinct type, and indigi-
nous only TO this soil. Years OF service
have made him valuable and indlspen-
sable part OF the machinery of govern
ment. His know ledge OF details and pre-.
cedents, methods, forms and decisions
could never be acquired except by a
great length OF service. The o. =. r.
forms a very respectable part of the resi-
dent citizen element, and his family
are inclined to regard administrations,
visitors and Congress rs so much ephem-
era, which must, in the nature of our
Kaleidoscope political institutions,
| change with every administration. The
elite of the old public tunctiOnaries re-
gard themselves as the government really,
and are firmly of the opinion that chaos
would follow their general dismissal
Many of them are married, and manage,
on the meagre salaries paid, to bring up
and educate large families.
meet one every day who Is a tremend-
GUS old swell In his department. His
| ''get up" aud bearing is that of an Eng
| lish country gentleman who is occupying
his town house for the season, or a gen.
eral or admiral in our service on the re-
tired list. Nothing could be more cOurtly
| and polished than his address, while his
| ClOIu0b dLO VI bhC CIV anu bCbb
material. Meeting him sauntering leis-
urely down the avenue on his way, fell
| into conversation with him and expressed
| nv surprise that a man who had received
| a classical education and had been grad
uated with the highest honors in one of
the professions should have spent the
greater part of his life in a department.
Said he; sit is with me as it is with a
| thousands; my coming to Washington as
font
| father was the Senator from, was
| the beginning ofthe marring OF my career.
| took a clerkshlp to committee In Con-
gress, intending to merely spend the
winter. The defeat Of my father and a
change OF fortune caught me in the trap,
| with near relations dependent upon me.
Then l was offered, and accepted clerk
snip in the - department. This was
thirty-siX years ago. l have been there
since. The men who were midshipmen
and second lieutenants when l went in
are now Generals and AdmIrals. Tho
increase In my salary has been about
| 1000, or perhaps a couple of hundreds
| more. My idea when l went in was to
! lay up enough to support me until could
| get fairly under way in nv profession.
"Yes, my friend, have been in that
| factory as regular hand for thlrty-six
wears, and / suppose when l am too old
| and worn out 10 crawl 10 tn6 department
[ shall be turned out ike an old horse to
die on the commons. Meantime my
cousin, the Admiral, and my schoolmate,
the General, and my uncle, the Justice,
are all on the retired list, a grateful re-
| public has set apart ana designed for
their special benefit as re-
| ward for long-honored and con-
tinuous performance of duty. Mean
time / should like to know why men like
me are under the ban and do not come
within the scope of the cOuntry's graft
tude. l have done my duty as well as
they have.
"Have / said anythtngf Why, what a
preposterous question: Keep house, SUD-
port growing family, present decent
appearance and save money should say
not. I've lived in rented house from first
| to last, and by merciless economy have al
WAYS managed to keep my head above
| water, and that's about all. am now
deliberately setting apart small sum for
the funeral expenses of myself or one OF
the family VINO may die suddenly. For
let me tell you that government clerk
with a family who once gets into debt
never gets out. He is no better than a
Mexican peon from that day.
"Do we put our sons in Office? Well, !
| should say we didn't. In the first place,
we haven't the influence. and il we had,
we would prefer to see them breaking
stone on the pike or blowing in a new
piece OF cleared ground In the backwo0ds.
God forbid any son OF mine should make
the m stake didP'